January 6, 2016

Week 21 Weigh-in

It's been 21 weeks since I started counting calories, and 6 weeks since I reached my goal weight of 133 pounds. I'm really happy with how maintenance is going so far! I'm still counting calories every day, but I've been eating more than I was when I was losing weight. Today's weigh-in:

The scale said 131, which means I am down a pound from last week (and two pounds below my goal weight). My average number of calories eaten this week was 1,958 per day. I thought for sure that I would have a gain, because I felt like I was eating much more than usual, but maybe the stomach bug I was dealing with had something to do with the loss. Regardless, another successful week on maintenance!

As far as my goals for 2016 go, I did well with those, too...

Cooking a new recipe: I made this recipe for Meatball Casserole. Super simple, but that was the day I was really sick, so I just threw together the simplest thing I could find. It turned out really good, though! The boys and Jerry absolutely loved it.

Getting in 7,000+ steps per day for at least six days per week: This was a short week, since I started this goal on January 1st. But, I did get in 7,000+ steps every day except for Monday (I was sick and it was a rest day), so I'm good with that.

I've stayed binge-free this week as well--today is day 155 of being binge-free!
I'm very happy with the way my 10K training has been going. I'm still skeptical that I'll be able to get my PR in April, but that's because it just seems like a crazy goal; I have to remember that it's still a long way out, and if I follow my training, I can do it. Here is a comparison of the paces from my two-minute (outdoor) intervals. (The highlighted pace is the average for that session of intervals)

I gave 100% effort for these intervals in the moment I was doing them. Interestingly, my average heart rate from the last two sessions was the same. (The average HR from the 12/8 session was actually 10 beats per minute higher!) That's a good thing--I'm getting faster, but I'm working at the same effort level.

Anyway, I've reduced my pace by 15 seconds without even really realizing it. I'm excited about that! I would like to do another 5K race soon, so I can compare it to my Thanksgiving Turkey Trot race--I gave 100% effort at that race, so it would be nice to see if I've improved much. My only concern with the training schedule that I'm following is that there isn't a long tempo run--I feel like I need to do at least a few longer runs at near-race pace. But, I'll decide what to do after a few more weeks of this schedule.
Tomorrow is Eli's 10th birthday. I can't believe that it's been 10 years since I went to the hospital to be induced! Eli was huge--I was induced 10 days early, and he was 9 lbs. 10 oz. I can't even imagine if I'd waited 10 more days to give birth! Just for fun, here is a picture of pregnant me, at 271 pounds. Eli was born about a week later.

If my "smile" doesn't say it all, I was miserably pregnant at that point ;) And here is Eli, shortly after he was born. I remember when I first saw him, I was so glad that we'd decided on the name Eli instead of Mason (his name was going to be Mason until about two weeks before he was born). He just looked like an Eli to me:

I don't know if I've ever shared that story here, about Eli's name. Jerry and I had decided on the name Mason shortly after we found out we were having a boy. When I was nine months pregnant, and huge, I took Noah (who was 18 months old) to lunch at McDonald's, and he was playing in the playscape. There was one section of it that was poorly designed, because a toddler could easily get stuck (climb down into it, but not able to climb back up). Noah was upset, and I had no idea how I was going to get him out. Right at the beginning of the playscape, there were these two padded rollers that you had to squeeze through--and even if I wasn't pregnant, there was no way I could have fit!

Anyway, there was a boy playing in the playscape who looked like he was about five years old, and I asked him if he could help me get Noah out. He was very helpful, and everything was fine. I learned that his name was Eli, and I immediately loved it. I suggested it to Jerry that night, and we decided on Eli (Elijah) instead of Mason for the baby's name. I didn't think much about it again until the first time I laid eyes on Eli after he was born, when I thought, "Wow, he looks like an Eli!"

Tomorrow, we're going to take Eli out to dinner of his choice to celebrate his birthday. He chose our favorite Chinese restaurant, so clearly, tomorrow will be my high-calorie day for the week! I'm looking forward to some sweet and sour chicken :)
If you missed it, make sure you check out yesterday's post to sign up for the fourth annual Runs for Cookies Virtual 5K!

Haha isn't it funny how babies just "look" like a name? I didn't choose eith of my kids' names until I'd looked them over and both times one name just popped up as theirs! And I agree, that does look like an Eli! Happy birthday, dude. :)

Happy birthday to Eli! What a cute baby pic!! Also, you are so keeping me motivated right now! I'm only on day 4 of my strict calorie counting (haha I'm such a typical New Years Resolution-ist) but seeing how well you've been doing week to week really gives me the motivation to keep going! My goal is to lose 35 pounds overall

You have a beautiful family! You're giving me hope that with strict training, I could get faster (right now, fast is ~13min/mile!). Being sick has delayed the start of my training (10 weeks til my big race), but you've made so much progress in a month that it's so inspiring! I found this website when looking at PR'ing a 10K: https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/article/39 It addresses your concerns about running longer distances at "race pace" and how to break it up. I think it'd be a good fit for your training plan! Keep up the good work...I need all the inspiration I can get! Cheers!

Those long intervals are the same ones that I did when I was doing Hansons Marathon Method! I hated doing them, because they are hard, but they really do work well. Thanks for the reminder! And best wishes on your training--I remember when my first goal was to get my pace under 13:00/mile :) You can do it!

Happy Birthday, Eli!! I have a similar "miserable smile" photo from each of my pregnancies. Haha! I love the story about his name. It's funny how some times our kids names just hit us like that out of no where. Congrats on 155 days of binge free!

I'd love to hear from you! I read all of my comments, and if you have a question, I do my best to respond; sometimes, however, I get busy and forget to go back to reply, so if it's important, just email me! :)

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